I took a 5 day (relaxed mostly) trip out to about 2000 LY more or less in a straight line from Federation space. HD 96507 was the furthest I went. I only made 5 million but it was my first long range trip in a Lakon 6. I would have stayed longer but sub-systems started crapping out on almost every jump, and did around 80 jumps straight back to human space. A few rough landings in gravity wells will do that, including a couple at black holes and neutron stars.
The real surprise was how many systems and celestial bodies in those systems I now have my name on as first discoverer. I've read about a few trips to the core and such, but there are a huge number of valuable systems out there that have no names on them within a few hundred light years. My explorer rank went from mostly aimless to Trailblazer, and I instantly got allied with the local federation faction (whatever that is, I don't really care).
Anyone thinking about exploring should know you don't have to steel yourself for weeks of endless jumping and patiently checking off items on system maps. There are tens of thousands of systems within easy reach. Even if you jumped in a straight line 200 LY - my ship was equipped for 19LY jumps, and can do that in about 40 minutes - you will be in completely undiscovered areas.
The most exciting system was one I picked as a destination early on - two black holes, a blue giant, double-earth-likes, life in the gas giants, and a terraformable all in one system. I think that system was worth around 260 thousand credits. There was probably at least one planet (including gas giants) with life for every 20 planets I saw, and 1 terraformable for every 50 I saw.
One thing that really impressed me though was how vibrant the galaxy is. When you're in a fairly dark system with a dim star, the strip of light from the milky way is just amazing.
And below after I got caught too close fuel scooping, I decided to take a shot. The flows on the sun were visible in real time and it was a little mesmerizing. Don't be afraid to get out there and get your name on something.
The real surprise was how many systems and celestial bodies in those systems I now have my name on as first discoverer. I've read about a few trips to the core and such, but there are a huge number of valuable systems out there that have no names on them within a few hundred light years. My explorer rank went from mostly aimless to Trailblazer, and I instantly got allied with the local federation faction (whatever that is, I don't really care).
Anyone thinking about exploring should know you don't have to steel yourself for weeks of endless jumping and patiently checking off items on system maps. There are tens of thousands of systems within easy reach. Even if you jumped in a straight line 200 LY - my ship was equipped for 19LY jumps, and can do that in about 40 minutes - you will be in completely undiscovered areas.
The most exciting system was one I picked as a destination early on - two black holes, a blue giant, double-earth-likes, life in the gas giants, and a terraformable all in one system. I think that system was worth around 260 thousand credits. There was probably at least one planet (including gas giants) with life for every 20 planets I saw, and 1 terraformable for every 50 I saw.
One thing that really impressed me though was how vibrant the galaxy is. When you're in a fairly dark system with a dim star, the strip of light from the milky way is just amazing.
And below after I got caught too close fuel scooping, I decided to take a shot. The flows on the sun were visible in real time and it was a little mesmerizing. Don't be afraid to get out there and get your name on something.
